Stephen Cannell’s Interview with Forbes

Stephen Cannell is an Emmy-award winning writer-producer, and Chairman of Cannell Studios. While his television shows may not be as popular today, we can certainly learn from his successes.

Cannell left NBC in 1979 to start his own independent production company; he wanted to own the rights to his work. The industry was skeptical of his idea because no writer had ever owned their own work before. It was a long road for Cannell and he made plenty of mistakes along the way, but came out on top, now being credited with more than 40 shows.

Along with the success of starting his own studio, Cannell is also the author of 16 books. Born with a severe case of dyslexia, Cannell understands what it is like to struggle. In an interview with Forbes Cannell touches on how his battle with dyslexia helped him to become such a great leader, “it has been valuable, because I’ll sit in this room with five other people, and I am not going to force you to do something. If I believe in your talent, and I think you’re talented, you know, I’m going to encourage you to do it.”

Cannell believes in collaborative teamwork and doesn’t overshadow any of his employees. This business model has shown to be quite successful, learn more about Cannell and his work at: